Plus… Mason. Well, the twins too, but the topless lap dances more than anything upset him.
I did chat a lot of everyone up while trying to seem like I wasn’t. Some of the regulars probably assumed that I was the new girl getting in with them.
While the dancers figured that I wasn’t trying too hard to get my own regulars because I was just filling in. So that worked fairly well to not arouse suspicion, especially when I still had enough to give a decent tip out.
The intel wasn’t great though. Like I already knew the club was crap and mostly people had a lot to say about that. There were two new dancers and they only worked Friday or Saturday nights. They were the first to wise up to Austin’s bullshit and basically said sit and spin and they would go to his competition.
So instead, he had them sign a non-compete and gave them like no hours.
Oh, and not just those two, but anyone he was miffed at. The roster was actually huge for a club that size. And the range of reasons were all bullshit. Girls thinking they weren’t quitting to lose their money if they were still on one day a week. Thinking if Austin got enough others that he’d give them their money and they could leave peacefully.
Yeah, that was never going to happen.
Or the new girls bullshit. Others, Nicole fucked over because Austin wanted them.
“How does their business seriously survive with that level of petty?” Evan asked me when I told him all of this later while playing with Mudbug.
“Exactly where my mind kept circling around,” I said with a sigh. I’d texted him asking if we could talk because I needed help with something and also Mason that I was going there to ask for something and would explain later. I was pretty sure Mason would be sleeping anyways.
“So what’s up?” Evan asked quietly. “I know this isn’t just about the case and you’ve got such storm clouds all around you, love.” He reached out and ran his fingers over my cheek. “Tell me. I promise I’ll help.”
I sighed, leaning into him. We both chuckled when Mudbug whined for attention like we were leaving him out. “I feel bad when I sign others up for so much. It was my—”
“Jasmine, I have yet to not agree with any of your fights or causes,” he cut in. “And if I ever find one, I’m fully capable of saying I can’t help you. You wouldn’t hold it against me and I feelsafewith you that I can. So please, trust we’re stable enough to handle whatever is going on.”
I blinked at him a full minute, not having had anyone say it like that to me before. “You’re seriously amazing.”
The sexy elf flushed as his eyes glazed over a bit. “Yes, well, I have to have my moments to keep you coming back. So fill me in.”
I snuck a quick kiss and then did. I told him about the human and exactly what happened. “It was bad, and it was hard to let him go.”
“You think he killed himself?” he worried.
“No,” I said immediately, going with my gut. “I believe what he said about having hurt enough people, and he… He knows having a guilty conscience. He’s a man who might take his own life but not let others feel responsible. He understood I would feel that way after letting him leave.”
He seemed to consider that and pulled me closer. “How bad?”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and tugged on the toy with Mudbug. “He doesn’t even like strip clubs and the way men treat women there. He’s a bit like Mason in his feelings about them, but it’s the only place he feels anything. Even if disgust at other men, lust for the occasional woman, or annoyance when people don’t listen to him.”
“It’s not a place someone can just be numb,” he accepted, kissing my hair when I snorted. “Yeah, I bet you’ve seen a lot of dancers feel that way—live that after all they’ve been through. That’s fair, but not for someone just walking in. If nothing else, they’re meant to be a bit overwhelming and throw people.”
I nodded. “He’s about to snap. He knows not to have alcohol in the house because he wants to just drink himself to death. So he drinks at the club and that’s it, but it’s not working as well, and he—the nightmares he has are going to eat him.”
“That’s horrible and something we both know, but I’m not sure—Greg. You want to try and hook him up with Greg and the former military buddies you made here that work security. That group.”
“That’s where my mind went,” I admitted. “That if he had a group like them to support him instead of the nothing he seemed to have in Washington, then he could have a chance.”
“There has to be something there? I mean why—”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I didn’t even get his name, Evan. It was completely a shot in the dark in reaction to how deep his desires were and how they were hitting me fast. He’s about to snap, so either the reason he went there after getting out went tits up or—I don’t know.”
“No, I get it,” he muttered and kissed my hair again as he rubbed my back. “I wasn’t doubting you or second-guessing even the idea. Just pisses me off that we don’t take better care of people we ask to protect us. Military and others.”
I couldn’t have agreed more and was glad when he agreed to mention it to Greg and it was a favor for me. There might be a job that they could even hook the guy up with, a place to crash—any of it.
I was surprised that Mason was still up when I got home and honestly I was too tired to go over all of it again. He didn’t make me once I assured him it was all fine and he could tell since his glasses weren’t on. He simply knew it was one of the many,manythings always weighing on me.
“I picked up a bunch of housewarming gifts for tomorrow—today,” he told me as we snuggled under the covers. His deep chuckle filled my ears when I groaned.
